UK women surging into SEC tournament

Head coach Matthew Mitchell during a timeout during the University of Kentucky womens basketball game against South Carolina at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday, January 14, 2015.(Photo: Mike Weaver/Special to The Courier-Journal)Buy Photo

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The UK women’s basketball team appears to have found its stride just in time for postseason play.

The Wildcats enter the Southeastern Conference tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., on a six-game winning streak that included victories over three ranked teams and three road wins. Kentucky finished February with a 6-1 record, the only loss coming at No. 2 South Carolina, which finished the regular season with a perfect record in SEC play.

“This time last year, I was having to provide the leadership for the team and that is never fun for a coach,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “Right now, I am able to really free my mind up about how can we prepare and how can we do a little bit better on the court.”

A win Thursday would match Kentucky against No. 4 seed Florida, which beat the Wildcats in Gainesville on Jan. 31.

In ESPN’s most recent Bracketology, UK was projected as a No. 4 seed that would host the opening weekend at Memorial Coliseum. UK will also host a NCAA tournament regional at Rupp Arena, but the Wildcats might need to win the SEC tournament for a chance to play in the Lexington region.

A NCAA rule prohibits teams seeded at No. 4 or better from being placed in the same region with other teams seeded that high from their conference. With South Carolina currently projected as the No. 1 seed in the Lexington region – it’s the closest regional to Columbia – Kentucky looks destined to play in one of the other three regions if it maintains a top-four seed and South Carolina wins the SEC tournament.

Would a UK win over the Gamecocks in the SEC tournament semifinals be enough to knock South Carolina below Notre Dame in the No. 1 seed pecking order and out of the Lexington region? Both South Carolina and Notre Dame have lost just one game this season with each defeat coming to No. 1 Connecticut.

Mitchell was vague about the NCAA tournament implications of UK’s SEC tournament performance, but he thinks the team could boost its resume in Jacksonville.

“I don’t look at it as closely as some people, but my sense is we have far more to gain than lose,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know that we can hurt our chances a tremendous amount hosting (the first weekend). I would imagine if we got beat on Thursday, it might put it in jeopardy, but we are going down there to win games and if we do that we only improve our standing, which I think would be really strong right now with a really strong resume.”

Mitchell’s team certainly looks to be playing the type of basketball needed to make an extended postseason run.

For the first time in program history UK has won six consecutive SEC games by double digits. The Wildcats are shooting 45.4 percent from the field and averaging seven more rebounds per game than their opponents during that stretch. UK has totaled fewer than 10 turnovers three times in the last six games.

Mitchell is confident the recent surge is proof his team has permanently turned a corner and players will not revert back to the struggles from a stretch of four losses in five games in late January.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an effort or attitude issue,” Mitchell said. “It would be very surprising to me. I’m real confident in that right now.”